firmware_helper unable to load '/lib/firmware/b43legacy/ucode4.fw'

[Luke Hoersten]

Binary package hint: udev

Wireless does not work on Dell Inspiron laptop.

Repeats over and over in syslog:
Apr 28 09:18:21 mcclaike-laptop firmware_helper[7590]: main: error loading '/lib/firmware/b43legacy/ucode4.fw' for device '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:02:02.0/ssb0:0/firmware/ssb0:0' with driver '(unknown)'
Apr 28 09:18:21 mcclaike-laptop kernel: [ 1812.558893] b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43legacy/ucode4.fw" not found or load failed.
Apr 28 09:18:21 mcclaike-laptop kernel: [ 1812.558903] b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the correct firmware (version 3).
Apr 28 09:18:23 mcclaike-laptop NetworkManager: <WARN> nm_device_802_11_wireless_scan(): (eth1): could not trigger wireless scan: Network is down

Card type:
Apr 28 18:03:52 mcclaike-laptop kernel: [ 32.178155] b43legacy-phy0: Broadcom 4306 WLAN found

Sorry for the lack of information but I'm submitting this bug report for a friend who is a few hours away and doesn't know much about the command line.

[Artem Popov (artfwo)]

Hi Luke!
Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. As you can see, there're missing firmware files for the wireless chip:

Apr 28 09:18:21 mcclaike-laptop kernel: [ 1812.558903] b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the correct firmware (version 3).

Oh, and the downloaded firmware must be put into /lib/firmware/b43legacy/ucode4.fw as stated in your log.

Please comment, if that fixes your problem. Thanks.

[Luke Hoersten (lukehoersten)]

The link http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware does not contain the file 'ucode4.fw'
Please check the link to see what it contains so your advice can be more accurate. It seems to contain only the firmware cutting tools and instructions on how to compile and run.
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware/ucode
My friend will be unable to follow the instructions at this link.

Also, it doesn't look like any Ubuntu package supplies a firmware file by this name:
apt-file find ucode4.fw
yields no output.

[Roger Magnesved (rogz)]

Like it says on the page http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware you need to follow these steps:

export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
sudo b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o

This will create a /lib/firmware/b43legacy directory with all the needed firmware files in it.

[Luke Hoersten (lukehoersten)]

Maybe I was unclear. Unless there's something as simple as downloading a file to somewhere, my friend will not be able to do it. I'm not close enough geographically to help her, either.
Do these files not ship with Ubuntu anymore?

If running through these commands is simply to find out whether this is a workaround for the problem, we'll have to wait a few weeks until I can do it myself.

[Raheel (raheelchaudhry)]

I managed to solve the problem listed in this thread. The detail follows:

I just acquired a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop with a broken CD drive. After installing Ubuntu 8.04 using an external CD (using the 'help me boot with the CD' option that is available when Ubuntu 8.04 CD is inserted with Windows still running), I realized that the wireless network card was not working in Ubuntu.

Looking at the logs (System->Administration->System Log) I learned that Ubuntu was not able to find the firmware file ucode4.fw. I searched Google on ucode4.fw and found this thread, among others threads and articles.

However, before I tried the solution listed in this thread, I decided to try another that looked easier (this other solution was obtained from post 2 of thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4617865)

That solution worked like a charm (without much intervention from me. It only stopped to ask me if I wanted to get the firmware associated with my network card (not exact verbiage) and I said 'yes')

The following is the listing from the terminal window (Please keep in mind that you will need an internet connection to implement this solution. I used the built-in wired connection of the laptop to solve this issue and get my wireless connection going):

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  b43-fwcutter
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 15.8kB of archives.
After this operation, 102kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main b43-fwcutter 1:011-1 [15.8kB]
Fetched 15.8kB in 0s (26.9kB/s)
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously deselected package b43-fwcutter.
(Reading database ... 113433 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking b43-fwcutter (from .../b43-fwcutter_1%3a011-1_i386.deb) ...
Setting up b43-fwcutter (1:011-1) ...
--00:10:54-- http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
           => `wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o'
Resolving downloads.openwrt.org... 195.56.146.238
Connecting to downloads.openwrt.org|195.56.146.238|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 652,866 (638K) [application/x-object]

100%[====================================>] 652,866 249.21K/s

00:10:57 (248.45 KB/s) - `wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o' saved [652866/652866]

--00:10:57-- http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
           => `broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2'
Resolving downloads.openwrt.org... 195.56.146.238
Connecting to downloads.openwrt.org|195.56.146.238|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 904,072 (883K) [application/x-tar]

100%[====================================>] 904,072 262.13K/s ETA 00:00

00:11:00 (261.44 KB/s) - `broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2' saved [904072/904072]

This file is recognised as:
  ID : FW10
  filename : wl_apsta.o
  version : 295.14
  MD5 : e08665c5c5b66beb9c3b2dd54aa80cb3
Extracting b43legacy/ucode2.fw
Extracting b43legacy/ucode4.fw
Extracting ...

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

There hasn't been any recent activity in this bug report and we were wondering if this is still an issue? The Ubuntu kernel team is actively working on the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. If you could please test the latest Alpha release for Intrepid it would be much appreciated - http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . Please let us know your results. If the issue still exists, please also provide the appropriate debugging information as outlined at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies . Thanks in advance.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Michele Mangili (mangilimic)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

[mike afheldt (mike-ca)]

I have changed the status to new although I'm not sure it really is a bug.

Anyway, I had the same problem with 9.10 and a Microsoft wireless card. I did the
apt-get install b43-fwcutter
as suggested above and it worked perfectly (though I did have to remove the card and then resinsert it)
The install screen said something about the firmware not being able to be shipped. If so changing the hint to say do the apt-get might be usefull

I can certainly supply any other information that might be needed

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Luke,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/lucid.

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 225098

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Luke Hoersten (lukehoersten)]

I don't have this computer any more so I can't help with future testing. Sorry.

[jesse (jesse)]

I can confirm this is still a bug on Ubuntu 10.10. Installing from the livecd it would say "firmware not available" for the wireless. Going to System-Administration-Additional Drivers would should b43-legacy driver but would fail on
'installArchives() failed'. Trying to manually download the package I would get "incorrect ID" or something. And using fw-cutter or dpkg-reconfiguer dkms-kernel-source would not work either. In fact the networking devices wouldn't even show after rebooting. Finally I noticed the Firmware file "b43legacy/ucode4.fw" not found or load failed." and after doing Roger Magnesved tip from 2008-05-01 since the provided linkw as not very clear, it FINALLY worked. Quite a frustrating bug.